The American Foundation for Equal
Rights (AFER) on Monday released a video calling the National
Organization for Marriage's (NOM) presidential pledge to work against
marriage equality “crazy.”

Republican candidates who sign NOM's
pledge promise to support a federal constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual unions, to “oppose and work to overturn
any Supreme Court decision that illegitimately finds a constitutional
'right' to the redefinition of marriage,” and to investigate the
harassment of marriage equality opponents by federal officials.

“There are a couple of reasons why
NOM's pledge is nuts,” Matt Baume says in the two-and-a-half-minute
video. “First, they want candidates to support a
constitutional ban on marriage. That will never happen. George Bush
called for an amendment back in 2004 and that went nowhere. Since
then, public support for marriage equality has jumped from 35 percent
to at least 55 percent. If they couldn't get any momentum behind an
amendment then, they'll never get politicians to spend political
capital on it now.”

Baume noted that presidents don't have
the power to overrule Supreme Court decisions.

“NOM wants the president to only
nominate judges who will uphold marriage bans, but at this point
legal consensus so strongly supports marriage equality that
supporting a marriage ban is a sign that a person isn't qualified to
be a judge,” Baume said.

Baume added that a GOP candidate who
signs the pledge either has “no intention of keeping their word or
they know there's no chance they'll get elected.”

Most candidates seeking the 2012
Republican presidential nomination signed a similar NOM pledge.